Death by Midnight
by Kyrastri
Summary: While it ends at midnight, this is not Cinderella's story. Much rather, it is not a fairytale. There are no happy endings when this clock strikes twelve. 44 ARC. 16.4k total.
1. Chapter 1

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/Divinescythe**

**Summary: **While it ends at midnight, this is not Cinderella's story. Much rather, it is not a fairytale. There are no happy endings when this clock strikes twelve.

**A/N: It's interesting to see how people change over time, isn't it? Finished at 16.4k words, edited and in 44.**

**Reference:**

**ORIGINAL TITLE: Once Again**

**UNIVERSE: 44th Moon**

**FANDOM: Maplestory**

**CANONICTY: 1/10**

**PROJECT: 44, ex-MMC**

**SHIPPINGS: KaylaXEdgar, LilienneXClyde; Suggested- LilienneXMirago, RaenXVerge  
**

Disclaimers and the like:/

I don't own Maplestory, though you can't see much of it in here. This is borderline fanfiction.

Pre-requisites before reading is playing MS past the Union Eternal patch. That way all the skills'll be familiar to ya (:

Dedicated to all the regular nutters/nutettes on the forum 44, which this atrocity was inspired from. May you all leak troll and for Shin Shin, refrain from tainting people please.

**-K/P4E/DS/BbtM**

* * *

"… What on earth are we doing here for?" I asked suspiciously, eyeing the busy square in front of us. "There are too many people here. You know how ridiculous my sense of direction is!"

_(There are people out for my blood, you know.) _Bah, how pitiful, using code like this! I shook my head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry…" She sheepishly murmured, scratching her head. "I really wanted to see the meadow around here…" She looked about curiously, noting the pathways leading out of the bustling crowd.

I rolled my eyes. "So much for something important…" I sighed. How perfect. If we were attacked now, only she would be able to defend. "I left my decent weapon back at home… We wouldn't be able to train, Lilienne."

(_I left my spear back at camp. If we get attacked now, we'll have to run.)_

She merely nodded. "I know, I know. You still don't know how to use that sword well, do you?" She laughed. "I told you that you should have taken it up earlier!"

_(I know, I know. If you attack with the sword, it'll look too much like using a spear. You should've had your mentor teach you more sword fighting techniques.)_

I raised an eyebrow. "I guess." I kept my hand on the katana at my hip, stroking the hilt. "The meadow's that way, mind you."

"Um… Right." She fumbled for her bottle of water, but I grabbed her arm and started walking towards the right of the busy square. "H-hey! Slow down would you?!"

I grinned slyly and only began to walk faster. "You can easily catch up though!"

We were weaving through the crowd when I started spacing out, thinking. Thanks to that, one minute later I remembered where I was and the fact that I was no longer abusing Lilienne with my iron grip. I looked around, searching for my particularly eccentric partner. How the hell did I manage to lose a white haired _elf_ in a crowd?

I grabbed my hair in frustration. Where the hell did she go?! It's as if she had disappeared into thin air… The meadow! Of course! I walked towards the area I had originally intended to go to, sidestepping the various citizens of Henesys and murmuring apologies at every turn.

Yet despite the general hustle and bustle of the crowd, I felt uneasy. I was brushing past so many people! I never remembered the place being so freaking busy! As I was trying to locate my comrade's mana signal, I nearly walked into someone. Someone who was standing silently, in the middle of a freaking _crowd_. That guy had some nerve, just standing blankly like that. But even so, just as I was about to apologise to him like the good exiled person I am, he walked off. Seriously, what the hell? I moved along, following a small path formed between two stalls selling some sort of meat.

Paved stones gave way to grass as I stepped out into the thickets of trees surrounding the town. The meadow she was blabbing on and on about was one I used to frequent when I lived in Henesys, though it may have changed since I last saw it.

I pushed past the last bush quietly, only to face an abundance of aromatic flowers. Yep, the meadow definitely changed since I was last here. Not that it was a bad change, but still. What _was _a bad change was the familiar face of Lilienne, fending off the man I had nearly walked into before. The same man, though bearing the clear medallion of _his_ army, was immediately obvious that he wouldn't go too far under _his _reign, for _he_ would never have allowed such a man to join.

Like Lilienne and me, he was a Dark Knight. One of us.

* * *

I sidestepped back into the shadows of a nearby tree, thinking. Lilienne hadn't resorted to using her skills yet, but from the brief moment I witnessed it was dreadfully obvious that they weren't having a light sparring match. Both parties attacked with an intention to kill.

The man in question was wearing a black and red coat which was torn towards the bottom and bore red cloth dangling in thin strips with small bells attached to the ends. His chin was hidden away in a crimson-red scarf tattered from use at the ends. Thick golden gauntlets covered jet black gloves that expertly wielded what I recognised to be a modified arcglaive; the length of the unique polearm was encased in a swirling golden grip of sorts, with an elegant red tassel hanging at the end, tossing about as he swung swiftly with a precise, almost mechanical aim. Lightweight metal plates bearing the occasional scratch covered his boots. His face was passive; nothing was given away in his gaze as he continued to strike at her.

But why he was targeting Lilienne and not me was a question that I was all too willing to see answered. Perhaps _he_ thought that by isolating me, it would make me magically rethink things? Doubt it.

A cold, metal ring pressed against my neck and I froze. "End of the road, warrior." A gruff voice sneered. "You should know better than to spy on our leader." The unmistakable click of a gun resounded in my ears as the battle before me unfolded.

"Unfortunately for you..." I smirked a little prematurely at my own joke, "today's really not your lucky day." I twisted and ducking low, knocked the wind out of him with a good ol' punch to the gut before drawing my sword. He pulled the trigger all too late; the bullet flew wildly and embedded itself into a tree not so far away. I kicked the gun out of his hand and pointed my sword at him. "If you think you can even try to inflict a cut, much less a bullet wound on me, then obviously you don't know who I am."

After a moment's pause, I caught a small movement out of the corner of my eye and sidestepped a wild swing with a dagger. I grimaced at the poor aim and retaliated by plunging my sword straight down, resulting in a clean stab to the gut. Blood gushed out of the wound and I flicked off the blood, triumphantly resheathing whilst looking admiringly at my handiwork.

However, in the process of defeating my own assailant, The gun shot had diverted both Lilienne and her assailant's attention, to which he recovered faster and held the tip of his polearm at her neck, energy rippling across the blade dangerously. So much for keeping hidden, huh."You can stop right now." I paused, staring at Lilienne. She had a look of disgust on her face, but remained relatively passive otherwise. "Do not interfere. This is not your battle. Throw down your weapon."

His voice gave off the presumption that he was used to being obeyed, yet it was obvious that he would not hesitate to harm my comrade if I defied his orders. I reached for the hilt of my sword deliberately slowly, staring intently at Lilienne and hoping that I could somehow convey telepathic messages. She widened her eyes at the motion, but didn't give me away. My hand now firmly gripped the sword and I began to pull it out until halfway, where multiple things happened. For one, I utilized a technique where I twisted the handle, cutting through the leather sheath easily and freeing the sword. A soft yellow aura enveloped the sword as I cut a circle through the air before lunging straight at them. Another thing was the movement only barely registering with Lilienne as she rolled to one side, picking up her dropped spear and poised to attack the man. He sidestepped and deflected our attacks respectively, but raised an eyebrow at me.

"Another spear user, how interesting." Whatever he said was obviously not portrayed in his ever-passive face. Until a moment later where to my disbelief, the corner of his mouth twitched up in what may or may not have been a smile. "Ah, it makes sense now. You must be Kyra Moon." He almost lazily avoided Lilienne's second attack, instead swiping his free hand at her, snagging the beanie she had been using to cover her elven ears. "An elf," he remarked, "one of your accomplices, perhaps." Lilienne snatched the beanie back, with a surprised look on her face as she leapt back to a comfortable distance. "My apologies, elf. Had I not be led to believe that the person I was sent to retrieve was you, I would not have attacked you in such a way."

"If you oppose her, you'll be against me as well." Lilienne snarled, glaring daggers at the man.

Oh, _hell_. I used a spear grip! If that didn't give me away, I have no idea what would have. I mentally smacked myself and promptly switched to a reverse sword grip, the yellow aura beginning to glimmer along the length of the blade again, forming a rune corresponding to the grip and slashing horizontally across.

The velocity of using the correct grip was surprising, but with enough power I steered myself left towards Lilienne, who reached out with her spear. I begrudgingly took her ridiculously heavy Pinaka- I never liked that bloody thing anyway- and tossed her the sword before raising the spear, purple sparks crackling dangerously around my fingertips.

He raised his glaive across his chest, before sending himself hurtling towards us without a moment to spare. We rolled in opposite directions, missing the tingly yellow aura with centimetres to spare. While Lilienne was off to her own devices, I raised the spear overhead before smashing the blunt down. The second the energy made contact with the ground it spontaneously exploded and we both leaped into the air, ready to attack amongst the flying debris.

I heard a quick shout of "Slipstream!" and caught glimpse of a streak of blurred black, red and purple. He seemed to move with a strange grace through the war zone, leaping delicately on one boulder to another, his glaive poised to strike.

I pointed the tip of the spear at him, the sleek black blade fading under a cloak of dark and crimson mana and commanded, "Slipstream!" propelling myself towards the nearest boulder. With an encouraging battle cry, I pushed off, aiming to impale our assailant.

He raised his polearm overhead in a manner as if he was using a hammer and sheer, uncontrolled vermillion mana snaked down his arms, forming a pattern on both his gauntlets and the entire length of the arcglaive with it. I swung down and the two weapons collided- Dark Impale against Berserk- sending sparks from the weapons flying wildly between us. The force of the impact between the two skills sent us both flying in opposite directions, but I circled the spear and casted another Rush technique, landing on a boulder.

He re-entered my field of vision, calmly (to my extreme distaste) observing me as if I was a fucking lab rat. I caught a glimpse of a maniacally grinning Lilienne emerging stealthily from a tree behind him, a cut on her hand leaking blood onto the blade of the sword. I knew what she was getting at, but geez... I polished that thing until it was pristine! I took off a glove with my teeth and gripped the blade of the Pinaka until a nice amount of blood coated it, the liquid absorbing into the spear.

The wound instantly sealed itself, skin stretching over the wound quickly but it remained a delicate shade of pink. It was of no concern though; I'll just ask _it_ to fix it once I get back to camp. The blade began to glow a dangerous dark indigo and I moved in while the skill was being prepared, swinging wildly. He easily parried the hit, not bothering to retaliate. I gritted my teeth and swung down swiftly, but he blocked that too without a second thought. We were twisting around and around, so I spun around him to swerve him from Lilienne, who had more difficulty preparing with a sword. The blade of her sword was flitting between dark indigo and a light violet, signalling that it was nearly done absorbing the blood she had given up.

He held out his gauntlet just in time to prevent himself from being slashed by my attacks and retaliated with a few more hits which I, in turn, blocked as well, growing increasingly aware of the attack we were about to launch consecutively. He slammed the arcglaive into the ground, with considerably less force than what I had used, purple blasts of energy rippling through the already ruined ground. The ground shook for a few seconds, but it felt like forever as a dust cloud rose and obscured my view.

A moment of silence slipped by before I heard the soft jingling of bells; I instinctively rolled left as a freaking mirage of a dragon just grazed me, occupying the spot I had just been at and promptly ripping through my jacket. I heard something smash behind me, but dismissed it as the dust began to settle. I had no time to be pondering on about what on Scania could be destroyed by a projectile of pure dragon magic! I launched myself into the air, my spear poised and ready to strike. I swiftly pulled into a rush technique and caught a glimpse of Lilienne's white hair rushing towards him as well, brandishing a butterfly cut.

With her blade poised to slash at his back, she shouted, "Sacrifice!" It was my designated cue as I hurtled towards him in the same moment, the mana circling the spear shimmering in the sun.

He turned away from me and managed to block her blow with his glaive, the energy rippling outwards in a burst but remained hovering near his glaive. He didn't dispel the attack… But why? I didn't waste another second as I swung the spear around, prepared to slash at him.

Everything became clear when he raised his palm at me. With horror I realised what had happened a moment later. A moment too late.

A small rune was carved into his gauntlet, unused. A rare smile graced his face, followed by a small look of regret. His voice rang out loud and clear.

"Magic Crash."

* * *

The next minute seemed to drag on forever. My lips were moving, but nothing seemed to come out. I recall trying to dispel the attack, to absorb the power back, but to no avail. I watched with a growing dread as the pulse of energy rippled forward in a twisted slow motion. The light red barrier seemed to _attract_ the attack before absorbing the power completely. Yet, the worst had yet to come. His expression was a mixed one of what I thought to be regret and relief, but mine was anything but relief.

The power that the barrier absorbed had bounced back, to its creator's assailants. In other words, us.

The power felt warm at first, but it didn't stay that way. The warmth began to burn as the feeling turned painful and in a matter of seconds it felt as if every muscle in my body was cramping up and attempting to tear itself apart at the same time. My body seemed to stiffen and relax at the same time, but neither stopped me from slumping to the floor, defeated.

I opened my mouth in an attempt to tell her to run, but my vision was fading in and out, flickering between reality and oblivion. I saw a dark mass shifting towards me and I felt arms almost gently picking me up. "You can still hear me, can't you?" I heard him muse quietly, his gauntlets cold against my skin. "Quite surprising, I must say. Such exceptional stamina."

"Why am I still alive?" In the distance, I heard Lilienne's voice croak weakly in confusion.

He stopped. "Because she took the brunt of the attack for you. I don't shed any more blood than I have to."

I was desperately fighting the oncoming darkness, trying to stay awake. I could barely move; both the attack and my assailant holding me made comfortably moving impossible, but I managed to mouth the words I wanted to say, even if I couldn't find my voice to say them out loud.

_Run, Lilienne. Back to Clyde. Tell him what happened._

"Your name." Lilienne shouted hoarsely, slowly sheathing her spear and picking up my sword.

He paused thoughtfully for a moment, before responding, "Geki."

* * *

**Why yes, yes this not the full story. That comes later. No, really. This is one of the only completed arcs.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: Ermagerd, I'm posting on FF again. Isn't that just _faabulous_. I don't know half of you people :l.  
**

**Same disclaimer as before.  
**

******Death by Midnight will be updated either weekly or biweekly on a Saturday (with exception of this update) until I run out of chapters, in which case I'll have finished the arc. Biweekly incase if I forget.  
**

**44 is currently at 60.4k words, including Death by Midnight. Once I release 44 to , I'll be removing Death by Midnight, as there'll probably be additional revisions to the text. And chances are you'll forget that this existed anyway.  
**

**-K  
**

* * *

**(The time gap between this is approximately two weeks)**

* * *

"So, are you going to crack yet?" He whispered into my ear, his voice soft but taunting. He had taken away my sight, but I knew he was close by.

"Fuck. Off." I rasped back, gasping for breath as he held my head close towards his face. "Kill me for all I care." For a moment, I was almost afraid of the hand gripping my throat to tighten.

"Oh, not yet, my dear." He replied quietly, relinquishing his iron grip. "I'll wait until tomorrow morning. Let's see if you've… ah, _softened up_ by then, hm?" He started to walk away.

I spat at him. He turned, realized what I had done and I felt my head pull back. "You're going to regret ever taunting me, bitch. Do you have any idea just who you are dealing with?!"

I mockingly paused with a thoughtful look. "Well... No. Because I'm blindfolded." I responded with a smirk, despite the rather dire situation.

He remained silent, but a twisted tongue of steel forced onto my neck and I stopped abruptly. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, girl." He rasped, "I'll make you feel the true meaning of pain-"

"No, you will not." A voice cut in sharply. The hold on my head loosened and I heard him gasp. "Long time no see, Kayla." I heard heavy footsteps come towards me and his overbearing cologne intensified.

I froze at the name. "Who are you?" I asked sharply.

The voice laughed, a deep, throaty laugh. "My, my, Kayla. You don't even remember your own father? How pitiful." A pause, then I felt a stinging slap on my left cheek.

"I see. Lovely to see you again, _Thomas._ Unfortunately, you are no father of mine, you two-timing bastard." I spat out the last word with contempt, glad that I couldn't see him.

For a second I felt like I couldn't breathe, then the air rushed back into my lungs and I was thinking again. He had punched me in the gut and knocked the wind out of me. "Why, you little bitch!" He snarled. "Don't you dare speak to your elders like that, you piece of filth!"

"Oh, so you're an old bastard now?" I shot back, stifling a laugh. "Glad you finally admitted it!"

A pause, then he spoke again in a low, quiet voice. "You can let go now, Aigis."

For a second, the only sounds in the room were the distant crackling noise a torch was making and my own shallow breathing, until I heard my interrogator speak up. "Yes sir."

My head fell forward instantly as he let go, but a gloved hand gripped my chin and jerked my head up to face something. I heard metal plates clink together before I felt his wine-tinged breath on my skin.

"You know…" He was speaking in a half-slurred, half-mumbled speech, which drastically changed when he next spoke. "I really hate children like you."

"Excuse me?"

"Besides…" His voice changed in tone again. "Like mother, like daughter."

"What are you on about?" I snapped. I was curious, but impatience ultimately took the initiative. "My mother was much more mature than you would ever be! I know we were both spearwomen at one point, but _surely _you must know that about your own _wife. _Unless, of course, you lost even _more_ brain cells since the last time you tried to kill me."

To my surprise, he laughed. Maybe he was really drunk. "Oh no my dear, you are most certainly wrong." Fingers hastily undid my blindfold and I squinted at the sudden brightness. "Because," I saw his sneering face split into a maddening grin "You're both going to die the exact, same way."

My vision recovered and I avoided attempting to gouge my eyes out through sheer willpower at the full view of the sneering bastard. The same dirty blonde hair, the exact same sparkling cerulean eyes. He was my father, the 'prestigious' Hero. Prestigious my ass; he spent more of my childhood being drunk and flirting with other women than being a respectable man. He wore the familiar red cloak over a new set of gray-white plate armour.

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow. I already know that you killed your own wife. Maybe it's because she finally couldn't take your sorry ass anymore. Or," I broke into a mad grin of my own "she finally confronted you about your affairs. Besides, Why're you rubbing your murders into my face?"

His face visibly distorted into anger to my satisfaction, but strangely enough, he calmed himself down, or at least enough to grit his teeth and turn to the men behind him, one of whom I recognised to be my assailant. Geki, I believe he was called. He was still clad in the same clothes I had seen him in, but his face was much more passive than before, if that was even freaking possible. "Gag her. I don't want to hear her bloody voice ever again, you hear me?"

"Well you're going to hear it again you fucking tw-" Geki moved forward without a word brandishing a wad of cloth and before I could further advance into a symphony of colourful language he shoved the knotted portion into my mouth and secured it in place.

"Understood." He answered promptly, but after a pause, asked, "So you're calling them back, yes?"

He turned around with and chuckled. "Calling what back?"

"The army of necromancers."

My poor excuse of a father merely sneered. "Oh, sure. We'll just burn it down."

His eyes widened. "What?!" He turned sharply to him. "You said you wouldn't destroy the village if I retrieved _her_!" He yelled, jabbing a finger at me. It was the first time I had seen him upset… or show any sign of strong emotion, now that I thought about it. "You promised!"

"All I said was that I won't have it obliterated, boy." He jeered. "So instead of granting a quick death, all I've done is make it nice and slow." He turned to face Geki, his grin slackening to a much more serious one. "Don't even think about trying to kill me, either. If even one drop of my blood even leaves my body, _she'll_ be dead within seconds." As if taunting him wasn't enough, he spat at him before turning to leave. "Next time I see you, you'll be a pile of ashes under my feet." He laughed.

My assailant hadn't secured my gag tightly enough, as I had managed to loosen it enough to shout, "Doubt it! Knowing you, my despicable excuse of a father, you'll be too caught up with getting your shoes dirty."

My father, in too good of a mood, only continued walking, motioning my previous interrogator to follow. Not Geki, though. Of course not; he would be an outcast to everyone else, just someone to do his dirty work.

* * *

He waited until the footsteps faded away and for a moment it was quiet. Well, except the quiet groans from the other holding cells and the aforementioned crackling of the torch. But the next course of action he took completely threw me off. He closed in, giving me a 'talk and I'm going to make your life bloody miserable' kind of look and loosely re-tied the length of fabric around my mouth before murmuring in a low, quiet voice, "Beholder."

Boy, oh boy was his beholder freaking _amazing. _Almost immediately it appeared as if a second Geki had formed out of him, but despite the similar features it was considerably more... Transparent. I mean, I had heard of beholder taking different forms but geez, this was completely different. The doppelgänger-beholder raised its palm in a manner so similar to the way that Geki did when casting Magic Crash that it made me shudder, the only difference being that it faced the ceiling. A wisp of darkness rose into the air, with the consistency of smoke yet appeared to be as dense as goo. The darkness seemed to expand and soon everything faded to a pitch black. For a moment, I thought I was blindfolded again. Or that the previous exchange was a dream and I had just been tortured to unconsciousness. Ideally the former, but still.

I felt the cloth slide down to my neck. "I'm getting you out of here." He whispered, unchaining my arms. As soon as the iron lost contact, my entire body slumped forward involuntarily, blood rushing back into my arms. "As you know, your father wants to execute you. He intended on executing you by beheading, but I've made sure that all of his warriors are out doing missions."

"He said I was going to die like my mother did." I interjected, my eyebrow twitching ever so slightly in anticipation. "He… He murdered her when she was at a dance. In a ball gown." I shook my arms gingerly as soon as feeling returned to them, almost afraid they were going to fall off spontaneously. "He isn't going to kill me like _that, _is he?" I shuddered at the thought.

"No idea." He responded. "I don't know all the details, but he's getting my sister to help you with something before your execution. She knows the rest."

"Alright, fine. But how do I know that I can trust you on this?" I asked suspiciously. "And why the hell is it dark?"

A pause. "Just... Trust me on this. Please." I felt something being pressed into my palm. "Clip it in your hair or just keep it on you. She'll know that I've gotten to you if you do. And the darkness is so that they can't detect this conversation. I'll be restraining you again like before to keep things consistent so don't freak out."

"Wait, who's she-" I was cut off _yet _again as hands awkwardly reached for the cloth to pull it back up, the cloth secured more tightly than before. A split second later, the darkness dispelled and once again I was bloody squinting like I was blind.

He handcuffed my hands, which I realized to make more sense than letting a prisoner walk freely. Or stumble freely, considering my body felt like stone. He noticed this and like the gentle mercenary he was, he helped me stagger out of the cell until my legs decided they would work again.

* * *

**Reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory. It just gives me a nudge that I'm going in the right direction. Which is good. But y'know, do whatever.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: As promised, chapter 3.**

* * *

**(Time difference is twenty (and a half) seconds)**

After exiting the cell, I was faced with a long, dingy corridor that smelled funny and was filled with groans of protest. I avoided looking into the cells and ended up staring back at the stone-faced Geki as we walked towards the ascending spiral staircase. Did the guy ever _smile?_ Geez, it honestly seemed as if he was as expressive as a brick wall!

I detached myself from him as if I was afraid I would catch something from him; probably his dead demeanor or something along those lines. It was exactly then when I remembered the object in my hand. Cautiously, I opened my palm to see an ornate, red dragonfly pin. It was actually quite pretty, but in this situation it didn't seem to do much good. I raised my arms to appear as if I was scratching my ear, but clipped the pin onto the collar of my t-shirt, tucking it until it was mainly out of sight but still visible.

We were walking through a corridor now. The entire place- thick carpets, cream walls, candles flickering on the walls- screamed nobility, even though he was nothing but. We made a turn right and ascended a few sets of stairs before we finally stopped at a door. He knocked three times and a few seconds later the door opened.

A girl, around my age, stood there, a little weary but seemed relatively healthy. She had hair a shade darker than caramel and striking red eyes that resembled her brother's.

"Edgar!" She rushed forward with a laugh, hugging her brother. I sidestepped to avoid getting hit.

"Madeline, you're safe." He responded, relieved. A small smile graced his face. "This is Kyra."

She looked curiously at me before turning back to him. "Kyra?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you on about? Don't you remember? She's Kayla. K. A. Y. L. A."

My eyes widened. Holy shit! This person knows me! And I almost forgot her! Geki looked suspiciously at me. "Do you know my sister?"

I nodded. She looked at Geki and poked her tongue at him. "See! Even though she's dyed her hair dark and grown it out a bit, her eyes always give her away~!"

"Erm, right." He detached himself from her. "Madeline, you have business to do, yes?"

Her eyes widened at this and she slapped her forehead. "Ah! I almost forgot!" She took hold of my arm. "You come with me!" She dragged me into the room.

It was well lit compared to the hallway and the room was surprisingly spacious. She undid my handcuffs before taking off the gag. "Geki's your _brother?_" Were the first words out of my mouth.

"Didn't you know?" She asked, ducking into a wardrobe. "I'm surprised he didn't recognize you, to be honest. But then again, he's an idiot." She grinned and pulled out a red, full length ball gown. A _fucking ball gown._ The clothing of _the devil_.

"Maddy... I'm not wearing _that_, am I?" I asked, glaring at the ghastly thing with such intensity that it might as well have spontaneously combusted. For the greater good, too.

"Yes, you are!" She grinned, tossing undergarments onto the pile of clothing. "It wasn't my choice, to be honest. Your dad chose it."

"Oh, _hell_." I face palmed, sneaking another begrudging look at the thing. "Goddess, how does a human move in that thing?"

"Oh, don't be daft." She laughed back. "Your mum never taught you this kind of stuff, huh?"

"Nope." I sat on the bed. "So what exactly happened to you?"

She took out a shoebox and then sat down with me. "See, silly." She motioned at me and I recognised the gesture, her previous words clicking in my head. _See, silly. C, Silly. Cover Story._ Wasn't the classiest of word choices, but it served its purpose. "Well, I was training out in the first when I saw Edgar. As you know, he works a lot so when he showed up, I thought something was up. Turns out he was looking for me; he found a job for me so I won't have to train as much! So I left my stuff back at home and followed him until I met your father. He's actually really nice when you get to know him! He let me work as a maid in his manor as long as I didn't muck up or laze around. I've been working for him for about... Six months? I've already lost count, haha."

"Oh, I see." I had already spotted where the camera and the bugs were in the room; it was simply a matter of obscuring them. "So what's the plan?"

"I'm getting you cleaned and dressed for a dance." She replied simply. "Why else would I even consider putting you through all this?" She laughed. A moment later and I heard the sound of glass shattering and metal clashing against metal. Bits of glass were sprawled all over the floor, with the remains of a clear bugging device scattered amongst the pieces. I looked for the source of the disarray; a single piece of metal was stuck amongst the remains of the vase.

"Oh, is that it?" I commented, attempting to feign the conversation to still be of the dance. She nodded. "There's a camera implanted in the doll's eyes." I pointed to a porcelain doll sitting on the drawer. "And heaven forbid, my father has officially dived off into the deep end."

"It does seem a bit creepy, but the timing was eerily perfect. Oh and I dismantled it the first day I got here." She grinned and we hugged. "Long time no see, Kayla! Don't mind Edgar forgetting about you, after all, he can be a little dimwitted sometimes."

"Oh, that's fine. Hell, I didn't even know the guy's name! You never told me that your brother was that strong, either!" I smirked and then shot a foul look at the dress. "I guess we better get started... I know you're lethal when it comes to deadlines."

"I wasn't that bad!" She exclaimed, frowning. "But you're right. I trust you still know how to operate a shower?" She stood up and dug out a towel.

"I haven't gone barbaric, Madeline."

"... Yet." She grinned, but patted my back and added, "Just kidding, but you know that."

I gathered the lot of undergarments and the towel before slumping off into the bathroom. After turning on the shower, I stripped off layers of clothing that would be an utter disgrace to even be in the vicinity of the pristine bathroom and climbed in. The water flew at me from various directions, but I basked in its warmth. I was going to make the most out of this, for the Goddess' sake! I cleaned myself off and got dressed in silence then ran a brush hastily through my hair.

I stepped out begrudgingly into the room, which had now turned into a parlour of sorts. The glass had been cleaned up. The table was full of bottles and tubes. It was a mad scientist's lab... Only worse. Madeline was sitting on a stool, a dangerous grin spread across her face. "Took you long enough!" She laughed eerily and I felt shivers down my spine.

"We're discussing a plan of sorts, correct?" I asked, slipping on what was probably the most ridiculous frock I would ever see. "Running in this will be bloody difficult." I added with a groan, taking handfuls of the dress fabric.

"Knowing you, it'll get worse. For you, that is." She motioned me to sit down and put some sort of sheet around my shoulders. "This must be a dream." She pinched her cheek. "Just curious, but when did you dye your hair?"

"Around a year ago, why?" I glanced in the mirror; there were no signs of any light brown near my roots. "It was shortly after I was hunted down by my father's guards, I think."

"Oh, I see." She started trimming off the ends of my hair. "Didn't you think of changing your eye colour, though?"

"I tried, but the optometrist wouldn't let me." I sighed. "She said it would be a waste of I changed it."

"Well, your eyes ARE really pretty." She dried my hair and started straightening it. Even though my hair is already straight. What.

"About that plan. What exactly happened? I'm pretty sure he didn't just decide to break me out after my dad threatened me with an execution. Otherwise you wouldn't have possibly known." I shifted uncomfortably at my hair being attacked vigorously by Madeline.

She paused. "I think he regretted bringing you in. I only found out you were here last week; we were planning on breaking you out anyway. Then I ran into your friends."

"Friends?" I briefly paused from fiddling with the dress to look up. "Wait... What did they look like?"

"One was tall and muscly. Black hair, red eyes. He seemed fidgety and he was using a pair of brass knuckles. The other was slim, shorter than the other and had insanely pale skin. White hair, golden eyes. She was holding a bow, but it was pointing the wrong way I think." She looked up at the ceiling, thinking.

"Oh that's them alright." I found myself laughing lightly. "How did you know who they were, though?"

"Because the white haired lady ended up pulling me aside and asking me where you were while shaking me vigorously. The other was laughing his head off." She sighed. "I do bear a small resemblance to Edgar, but geez... I think she was blind."

"So you devised a plan with them?" I asked, trying to imagine Madeline conversing with such psychotic people.

"Yep. But I can't fill you in on all the details or else you might not be able to feign ignorance or disbelief at it, which would ruin everything." She finished up on my hair and clipped my bangs back.

"Fair enough. Tell me what you can so I can at least try to prepare myself." I grimaced inwardly at the oncoming foundation.

"Okay. First, where's the pin I had Edgar give you?" I motioned to the bathroom. "Oh, right. It was on the collar of your shirt, wasn't it?" I nodded. She quickly went to the bathroom, where I heard a visible sigh before coming back. She set the pin on the table before reaching for a narrow black cylinder with some obscure Ludibrian brand inscribed on the side. "Mascara," she explained after glancing at the questionable look on my face. "Don't worry, it goes on your eyelashes."

"Who the hell puts gunk on their eyelashes?" I asked, pointing to my eyelashes and looking incredulous.

"A lot more people than you'd rationalise, Kayla." She stifled a laugh before opening the container. "Keep your eyes open." My eyesight blurred out trying to look at her hand, which was stroking my eyelashes strangely and dangerously close to my eyes. That thing was _vile_. "For the record, all this make-up is waterproof for the first twelve hours, but after that you can wash it off using water."

"Twelve hours." I repeated, grimacing.

"They'll fly by, trust me." She finished applying the black stuff- Mascara, she called it- on my eyelashes and moving the container away to make way for a small container filled with pink powder. "Smile."

"What?"

"Smile. I'm supposed to put this on the apple of your cheeks." She tapped the brush on the side of the container. I did as told and she awkwardly patted my cheeks. To think that people did this on a daily basis. Gah.

She set the container down and picked up what I identified to be lipstick. Fortunately. It wasn't some crazy colour, much rather a soft pink that was close to the original shade I remembered my lips to be. She put it on then finally let me look at myself fully.

"Well?" She chirped, looking excited. "How do you like it?"

"What. The. Heck." I looked at myself in the mirror again. "I don't look any different except for the eyelashes and the redder cheeks."

"Oh, trust me. You were a lot more pale before I put on the foundation. Two weeks really does that to you, I guess." She started to fiddle around with my hair. "I still liked your hair better when it was a lighter brown."

"Why're you dressing me up if I'm going to _die_, by the way?"

"Because you're still a hero, even after you were exiled." Her words stopped me for a moment. "Most people understood what happened with the minister, so naturally they opposed your first execution. That's why it was held in secret. The second went public only because they- your father and his followers- were at large. After that second incident your father lost a lot of followers. That's why he's making this third 'execution'" she paused to make air quotes "appear to be an accident. Other Dragon Knights, Dark Knights and various people that supported you that were secretly detained and regular citizens are all going to be there. The party will be raided and it is planned that most will die." Her voice lowered towards the end, until her last words was barely a whisper.

"Oh, Goddess." I had nothing to say for a moment, not even anything sarcastic. When my voice decided to work again, I murmured, "So it won't just be me, then. Why do they have to die too? That _bastard_!" I clenched my fists, trying to calm down.

She had done my hair into a loose bun with ringlets trailing off. Gah, it was just an excuse to freaking dress me up like a freaking Mariwaka doll. "It might look like it'll fall apart, but that's just the style," she explained. "It's actually quite sturdy."

I yawned and I realised that I hadn't slept well for at least a week. "Sturdy enough that I can sleep in it?" I asked as she took off the sheet.

"Try it, I guess. You can sleep on my bed if you'd like." She finished by sliding the pin in. "Keep that pin on, no matter what. It's imbued with a protective magic. I'll wake you up in seven hours, the dance starts at eight."

"Gotcha." I stood up and moved towards the bed. It was the first thing that I had welcomed openly after two whole weeks. I still can't believe I had stayed in that hellhole for two weeks... "Why'd you get me dressed so early?" I mumbled, yawning again.

"Because I know you need sleep, Kayla." Madeline replied with a light laugh. "Rest well."

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**Reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: Chapter 4.**

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**(Time difference is approximately six hours and forty-five minutes.)**

"We'll have to wake her up soon."

"Let her have her rest."

"She looks so much less... Violent when she's sleeping, don't you think?"

"Maybe it's because she's not attacking you."

"Would you like me to attack you?" I yawned, rubbing my eyes. I checked the clock. 7:45. I saw Madeline similarly dressed, except she wore a purple ball gown as opposed to my red one. Then I caught glimpse of Geki in a regular suit. Well... There goes my theory of him never wearing anything else than the coat that looked like it had gone through generations of brick walled descendants.

"I wouldn't recommend it. You're still weak." Geki replied, amused.

"Who're you calling weak?" I half-slurred, still forcing myself to wake up. It was by far a more blissful sleep than usual.

"You." As if that wasn't taunting enough, he prodded my nose.

"Watch what you say, lest I magically punch you through five walls." I warned. I heard Madeline distantly gasping and rushing off before coming back. I felt bits of cold metal push through my earlobes, but I was too fixated trying to formulate plans to seek revenge to notice at the time.

He laughed. "Not on an empty stomach, you're not." And what a bloody surprise, my stomach decided to agree with him. Fuck.

"Ugh." I clutched my stomach, berating myself. "I don't think the ball will last that long anyway."

"It's going for three hours until the actual raid starts. I'd get some food beforehand so you'll last the night." He sat down on the opposite side of the bed.

"He's right. The maid quarters aren't that far away; I'll go grab a sandwich for you or something." Madeline placed down the pair of gloves she was holding and ran off, shutting the door behind her.

"Three hours... Geez. How are half the prisoners supposed to feign enjoyment for three hours?" I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"They think they're going to be set free." He responded quietly.

"What?" I almost stopped at the thought. "So all those people are going in the vain hope that they'll be let free?"

"Your father is a convincing man." He sighed, taking his weapon holder and retrieving the arcglaive from it.

"I'd imagine. My mum didn't fall for his charms."

"Hm."

"This whole thing is ridiculous..." I sighed, but my words held true. Had my father not become the idiot he was to try and oppress the freedom of people, I wouldn't be in this bloody mess and neither would anyone else.

Madeline came back in holding a tray with sandwiches and tea. She set it down on the bedside table and upon removing the lamp, dragged it closer to me. "Eat up."

"Ah, thanks." I took a sandwich and began to eat. It may have been a simple sandwich, but it was so much better than the stale bread and water I was rationed back in the cell. Who knew a few dozen meters would make all the difference. Not scoffing the food down was all that I could make myself do; it was only when I began eating that I realised how bloody hungry I was. It was all that I could do not to scoff it all down.

"Better?" She laughed and I nodded before taking a sip of the tea. It wasn't heavily sugared like how she had it, but there were other cups and packets of sugar. "I know that neither of you like super sweet tea, you freaks." She explained from the a glance at my face.

"Right." I watched her tip not one, not two, not even three, but _four_ packets of sugar. "I may be biased saying this, but geez, Maddy. You might as well be having tea flavoured syrup."

"Oh, shush. How many times have I had to hear that from you?" She waved dismissedly at me, sipping from her cup.

"Every time we went out for tea." I grinned, finishing my own. "Is there anything else before we head off?"

"Once I finish, I'll grab shoes. Otherwise, just wash your hands before putting on the gloves." She set down her cup. "Edgar, go get a room with that pole arm of yours." She rolled her eyes at Geki, who was affectionately polishing the pristine arcglaive. The comment went unnoticed, or he just didn't care.

I stood up and after steadying myself, headed towards the bathroom again to wash my hands. It was strange, following such civil procedures. Madeline had pulled out another shoebox along with the previous one when I came back.

"Here." She handed me the blue shoebox. "Hold the front of your dress to make way for your feet to move. You can move a lot faster that way."

"Alright." I opened the box and almost cringed. It was a pair of red heels with a small arrangement of shapes on it. The heel in question was not half bad in terms of height, but it was thinner than any normal shoe heel should ever be. Begrudgingly, I placed them on the floor and slipped into them. The white gloves were elbow length and had a red dragon emblazoned on the side.

She had put on her own shoes and after moving the table back, motioned us to leave while putting her own gloves on.

We set off together; Madeline leading the way, myself following her and Geki trailing at the back. When we walked past a janitor's closet, I noticed him duck in and his arcglaive disappeared. Two turns later, we entered into the talkative lobby, passing a "do not cross" barrier. There were people walking into the main hall and others just waiting idly nearby. Everyone had on some sort of formal attire.

There were a few people hanging around wearing shades inside and I deduced they were security. Probably to prevent any criminals from escaping. A light, cheery melody was playing in the background.

"Oh, Kayla!" I spun around to find Dances with Balrog walking towards us, sticking out like a sore thumb in his traditional tribal clothing. "I heard you finally made up with your father. What wonderful news!" He smiled. I feigned a smile in response and we hugged.

"What a lovely surprise to see you here, Chief!" I smiled again, wondering what lies he must have fed Dances with Balrog to get him to attend. "Are any of the other council elders here?"

"I think Thomas managed to convince Jin and Grendel to come, yes." He laughed. "How are you Edgar?"

"I'm doing very well, sir." He bowed, however slightly stiffly. His face, even his eyes betrayed nothing.

"Well, go enjoy yourselves. I'm sure you all must be honoured to be the cause of this blissful reunion of classes!" He walked off in a near-dreamy state.

I didn't know what to say. Lying to prisoners about their death was bad enough. Inviting innocent citizens was even worse. But the one thing that truly made me lose respect for the man I once called my father was lying to an elder. I walked away, fuming. Who the hell did he think he was?! He was toying with the lives of many, just for his own, sick pleasure.

"Oi, Kayla!" I heard Maddy call out behind me. "Ugh... There she goes off again..."

* * *

I was probably fuming to the point where I would have confronted him once and for all, but a hand grabbed my arm.

"You're not going anywhere, much less anywhere near your father." He murmured quietly. "Do me a favour and keep yourself together tonight. If there's a revolt now, everything would be in chaos. You have to keep an image of peace, for the citizens. At one point, people won't be allowed to leave."

His words made sense- what was he, a philosopher?- but even then, he didn't sugarcoat it. I briefly went through my options; I couldn't have gone ahead and attacked him anyway since I had no weapon on me and he would most likely have guards surrounding him for safety purposes. "... Fine." He let go and we set back, looking for Maddy. She had wandered from where we were, but she was talking not too far away with a man that I knew all too well.

When we finally came up to them, Maddy had just attempted to punch him, causing me to stifle a laugh. He never got hit unless he wanted to. That was the way Ryan worked.

He heard my voice and turned around. "Kyra. You're... Wearing a dress..." He stared for a bit, his eyes wide. I grimaced, covering my face with a hand. "You don't look half bad." I felt warm arms wrap around me and he nearly choked the life out of me.

I pushed him away. "I can see why Maddy was trying to punch you, giving choking hugs like that."

He looked sheepish and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry about that." I shot him a glare.

"Sure, sure." I rolled my eyes. "What brings you here?"

"Collar on your shirt, Edgar." He glanced at Edgar, who poked at it but realised it was already done up properly and that it was a cover story. To be honest, it was difficult to imagine him walking around with a crooked collar. "Oh, was just in the neighborhood when I ran into your father. He invited me to come, though I only agreed when I heard you were here."

"How flattering." I responded. "Didn't you bring someone?"

"Nope. The person I wanted to bring was busy somewhere at Ellinia, I think." His eyes darkened slightly, but his expression remained the same. "The music's going to change into something slower to dance to." He commented.

"So?" I raised an eyebrow. Whatever it was that I didn't get, Madeline sure did; her face lit up like fireworks for the Henesys festival.

"You're really oblivious, you know that right?" He bowed low and extended his hand. "Would I have the honour of dancing with you?"

"No." The words came out faster than I had thought them. He did a double take before straightening up, slightly crestfallen. Edgar snickered and Madeline gasped audibly.

"Blunt much." He frowned. "Way to hit a man's stride, Kayla." He retreated into what I recognized to be a sulky Ryan. He turned to Madeline. "How about you? Would you like to dance with me or are you going to outright reject me too?"

She laughed at the bitter undertone in his voice. "Alright, if it'll stop your sulky state." She grinned and his face brightened up. "See, you've already cheered up!"

"Give me bleach and I'll have him glowing white." I remarked, giving a dangerous look to Ryan. It must've reeked of liquid malice or something since he abruptly left the scene, dragging Maddy with him.

"See ya later!" Her voice faded and drowned into the general chatter from the crowd.

I gave a feeble wave that probably wouldn't have been seen by her anyway before turning to Edgar. "What're you going to do now? I think it's safe to presume you didn't bring anyone to this death trap."

He ignored my last remark and answered, "I have to stick with you. Orders." He said no more after that and I was left to my own mental devices (Of course, he was meddling with my personal bubble but there wasn't much I could do about that. Other than punching him through five walls.) I moved slowly towards the main hall, dreading the next three hours. It was, of course, very tempting to sleep through it all. But that wasn't the best course of action, considering saving as many lives as possible was the general idea, decided by yours truly.

"Promise me you won't try to kill him." I heard him mutter quietly, presumably only quiet enough for me to hear.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I continued walking through the crowd and into the main hall. The ceiling, if it could have gone any higher, stretched even higher up. How big was this freaking building? "Oh and I know you have to keep watch over me, but with the distance you're keeping from me, it looks like you're stalking me. I'm just saying."

"I see." He closed the gap and was now next to me. "Better?"

"Not at all." I sighed, but added, "But it's necessary, I guess. Don't you dare get any closer, though unless if you want to be tossed out a window. And not in a comical sense, eithe- oh, _wow_."

The hall was elegantly simple. The familiar cream walls were partially covered by rich red banners, the floor a pale pink marble. Tables circled a main area for dancing and an elevated platform made way for a small orchestra's worth of instruments playing by themselves and an accompanying grand piano. Standing in front of the floating instruments was the conductor, who was literally playing all of them by himself using a staff.

There were already quite a few couples twirling away in an odd harmony. There were people eating and people playing cards in a corner. A staircase leading upstairs showcased even more tables and a balcony beyond. Children ran past, with a man presumably one of their father's chasing them and making Evil Eye sounds strangely. The general mood was a festive one. It filled me with a strange sense of dread knowing that it was heading towards an inevitable doom. A ticking time bomb, even.

It was strangely serene despite the insanely loud chatter. Almost as if it was the calm before the storm that I knew all too well.

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**Reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory. Thanks if you do though.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: Update, forgot to update during exam week. My bad.**

**DbM ends soon, though you probably don't get this at all.**

**Just to clarify, this is, essentially, the middle of a story. A story that isn't complete. "Why won't you just post from the start", you ask. It's to gauge reactions and the level of effort I'd take if I really wanted to start fully posting straight off the bat. All my previous projects were essentially thrown out in shame, even though in retrospect I really did like my concepts. I was too hasty and didn't let the idea mature.**

**I didn't have the same dedication to my stories as I do now. 44, the story this was taken from, is currently sitting at 72.5k words. It is based off the same universe as Fall From Grace, with major expanding and adjustments. Nothing but the names are vanilla. Call it borderline fanfiction, if you will.**

**Yet I love everything just the same. Quite funny, isn't it?**

**Anyway, I'm rearing 10k without any feedback. Quite understandable. Read on and ignore this particularly large author's note.**

**-K**

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**(Time difference is approximately two hours and forty-six minutes.)**

It had been two hours. Two hours of awkwardly hanging around and striking up conversations with random people out of sheer boredom. If this wasn't the biggest test of endurance I would ever have, I have no idea what would be. It was _agonizingly_ boring. People were still having fun, to my surprise. I suspected Edgar had kept me away from my father, or by absolute sheer luck he had not been around during the time I was around. Probably for the greater good, too.

The music had slowly progressed from upbeat to a slow, melodic tune, so slowly I hardly noticed until I realised that people were slurring about, many couples looking half asleep. The chatter was still there, but it was much quieter than before. I stayed slumped in a chair, observing Maddy and Ryan, who were still dancing, those freaks. No-one alive should be able to dance so long!

"Come dance." Edgar's voice came from straight behind me and I jumped.

"Holy mother of Scania-" I stopped mid sentence as the children ran past again. I might be sweartastic but I have enough sense to keep children away from my foul language. "Why now?" I quipped, following him towards the edge of the allocated dance area.

"I just remembered they would be coming from both the lobby and through the wall behind us." He replied, hesitantly placing his hands around my waist. I reached up around his shoulders and we awkwardly swayed side from side almost in time with the music. It was very tempting to choke him, but I was probably in no state to.

"Nice to know that your memory is on a different planet."

"Mm."

"You're too passive." I grumbled, frowning.

"Am I, now?" He smiled slightly.

"You're like a cynical mushroom. You only actually acted out once, the rest was in the land of brick walls."

"I'm a brick wall now, am I?" He asked, amused.

"Well, yeah. You have this uncanny oblivious hole where sarcasm goes." Hell, I think everyone here does. It's as if I'm the only one who isn't some chill bloke that can get stabbed and remain indifferent.

"Brace yourself." We twirled, his back now to the wall so I had a view of both the wall and the doorway to the lobby.

"Wait what-"

A deafening explosion came from the wall, the lingering foul scent tainting the air giving away the presence of a mage nearby. The entire building seemed to shake from the explosion, a dust cloud of powdered marble and concrete rising to obscure the view of the attackers.

Then the screams began.

* * *

The whole building descended into chaos. Women and children were screaming in fear for their lives, men who were drinking almost instantly sobered up in the face of immediate danger, protecting nearby children and retrieving weapons. The dust cloud slowly settled to reveal an enormous group of masked rogues all wielding various weapons, even spears. Though the spears almost instantly raised suspicion. If they were under order by my father, there would be absolutely no spear users in their ranks... Unless-

I put two and two together, shouting "Get down!" as I pushed Geki down before rushing over to Ryan and Madeline to drag them down as well.

The conductor had shouted, "Magic Guard!" just as a few dozen arrows flew at us. The arrows bounced off the magical barrier; I scrambled back up as quickly as I could given the difficult attire and Geki tossed me a small container of pills which I realised to be recovery capsules.

"That ought to help." I nodded, tossed a few into my mouth and chewed; a warm sensation rushed through my body as my mana reserves replenished themselves before looking around for any sort of sharp object that I could use..

Madeline had gotten over the initial shock and commanded, "Alchemist!" on a twisted hunk of metal, fashioning a makeshift spear out of the material and swiftly tossed it at me before tossing numerous coins into the air. They seemed to melt into the air, but a faint outline of a barrier could be seen around her.

"Keep that barrier up!" I shouted at the conductor before I gingerly stepped outside the safety of the spell, keeping the spear next to a small self-inflicted cut leaking blood before facing the enemy. I twirled the bloodied spear daintily in my fingertips as fatigue seemed to drain away, adrenaline flooding my veins instead. I took a deep breath before I promptly slammed the blunt of the weapon down, sending ripples of cerulean energy out through the end of the spear and cracking the ground beneath my feet. "Dragon Roar!" A low growl that originated in the depths of my throat escalated quickly into a deafening roar; the sheer force of my amplified voice tossed tables and debris flying away from me.

The energy dissipated and I kept myself standing by leaning on the spear, panting heavily. It seemed that the pills didn't cover the draining roar, but I tossed a few more pills in quickly to make up at least some of the difference. I saw Geki run off through the resulting dust cloud, nimbly moving through the debris and towards where he kept his arcglaive.

"What a wonderful gathering here." The figure with the bow who had initially attacked us appeared to be the leader. His voice echoed, but was cut short oddly due to his raspy voice. "Would any mages like to accompany us?" He snickered and the opposing crowd jeered and laughed. "Or the Dark Knight. All exceptional mana sources are welcomed... Yes..."

"Like hell we will!" I shouted, raising my spear. I heard grunts of agreement behind me. What an odd assembly of an army...

The bow-wielder looked curiously at us, then split into a wide, taunting grin. "Then we'll just slaughter you all."

I grimaced, rotating the spear outwards and rushing towards the side of the hole, standing just less than a metre from them, ready to attack just over a second. "Slipstream!" I ran along, slashing at the entire front row's chests before leaping back to observe. They groaned and slumped to the floor, blood pouring freely from their wounds. The movement was strangely stiff as the bodies hit the floor, but I thought nothing of it as I closed in again.

Throwing stars took down people on either side of me as I moved through the crowd of attackers. They had drawn their weapons and were in a state of panic, trying to wildly slash at me. I ducked under a swipe at my neck and impaled the offending crossbowman before continuing.

The sounds from behind told me that Maddy had been busy making weapons and that Ryan was heading over, slashing enthusiastically through enemies.

"I'd watch your back if I were you." He said as he kicked aside a bandit and using the hilt of his pole arm, he smashed the face in without a second thought.

I nodded. "This bring back memories, Ryan?" I used a quick triple stab manoeuvre before slashing the stomach of the person next to us.

"You too, huh?" I heard a light laugh amidst the constant, almost rhythmic breaking of bones.

I fended off another attack before allowing mana particles to infuse into my weapon. "Dark Impale!" A flurry of swipes slashed in rapid succession at the enemies before I slashed up and impaled the last man with a small flourish. Bodies were lying at my feet and the stench of freshly spilled blood filled the open air. I retrieved my spear from the corpse and gingerly stepped over a body only to step onto another soft, fleshy corpse. How freaking _wonderful_.

"Shit!" I heard Ryan curse and I turned around to see him a distance away, surrounded by enemies. "Ground Smash!" The ground cracked to allow violet bursts of energy to escape, obliterating the bodies until only ash remained.

I turned back and just managed to block a Power Strike from a rogue swordsman, but his face contorted to glee as the middle of the spear broke into two. Now, of all times, too! I used the blade of the spear to stab at the swordsman, but the grip was bloody terrible with the small grip space and the blade slipped from me. I instead swept down and tripped the swordsman, wrestling the sword out of his hands and nearly decapitating him from a stab straight through his throat. He spat out blood and writhed for a brief moment before his movements fell limp.

I grimaced before removing the bloodied gauntlets of the swordman. It wasn't the best and they were a bit loose, but it was better than nothing. I nicked his sword as well and deflected a throwing star from hitting me square in the eyes on instinct.

"Slipstream." I sped back towards the main hall, remembering that the original group that was going to raid was supposed to come the same way. Some of the bandits that noticed me followed, but many of them were sniped off by someone. The main hall was in shambles, with a bishop healing those wounded from the opponents I had left behind

My father was nowhere in sight. Maybe for the better good, but he didn't even attempt to stop the attack, which was pathetic.

People were murmuring quietly but took up their weapons again when they saw the last band of enemies. I turned to face the last of the attackers, when I saw something that almost made my blood run cold.

Branded on the side of the gauntlets I had taken, was a pair of wings protruding from a dark circle with runes twisting around the image.

It was the symbol of the Black Wings.

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**Ending cliche is cliche. No better place to stop it, though. Reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: Update, as promised.  
**

* * *

**(Time difference is approximately five and a half seconds)**

Even though the symbol seemed to be an omen, there was something much worse. The crescent moon had come out and I heard bones rattling as they reformed, taking barely humanoid forms considering all the injuries we had inflicted. I slashed at what I thought to be a spearman, unleashing a swift butterfly cut and effectively letting his lungs flap out grotesquely. Even so, it hardly fazed him, the freak. I stabbed straight through and summoned a power strike, slicing body parts cleanly off. After a few seconds of weakly moving about, the limbs fell limp.

"Ryan, you have to render them immobile before you can kill them!" I shouted, replacing the sword for what I recognised to be a Serpent's Tongue coloured completely black. "That way, they won't move again!"

"You can obliterate them, too. Burning also appears to work." He responded, slicing up enemies as fast as they came.

"My Dragon Roar should've killed them all, then!" I shouted back, slicing off arms and legs with a flick of my wrist.

"You're still fatigued, that's why." Edgar appeared beside me like a fucking ninja. "Take it easy on the skills."

"Take it easy? These people are trying to _kill_ us, mate!" I was on an adrenaline high, nearly hysterical while killing. "Kill or be killed. Your choice." I paused for some semblance of a dramatic effect before I crushed a skull, fragments of bone flying everywhere.

He didn't respond, but his Beholder silently re-appeared by his side and melted away into his glaive, a single eye reappearing on the blade. The entire weapon seemed to emit a dangerous-looking aura, but he seemed oblivious. He wordlessly cut up multiple opponents, probably contemplating what he'll have for dinner tomorrow for all I knew.

I narrowly dodged the dagger from a dual-blader, but I smashed his face in only after he ripped a gash through the material on my dress and cut into my waist. I swore but felt little to no pain and kicked him aside. I was _not_ going to let some little wound obscure my path to smashing every fucking dumbass's face in!

I cut apart yet another pawn, blood staining everything. It may as well have been a blood bath.

But then, I heard it.

Now, if the crescent moon reviving the dead was scary, then hearing the familiar shout of "Dragon Fury!" was absolutely terrifying. I knew that all hell was going to break loose now.

* * *

The enemies I was fighting burned under the sheer power of the dragons flying past, dispersing into the air after blasting down a few trees.

"You've got some guts, fighting a battle and losing, Kyra." Clyde stepped in, his precious Agares pole arm slung over his shoulder as he walked through the small ditch that his attack had carved with a grin.

"Cut her some slack, you idiot." Lilienne skipped forward and smacked him on the side of the head. "She's probably tired as hell." She had two weapon holders slung over her back; one was her Pinaka, squeaky clean from the blood I had stained it with and my own Fairfrozen, giving a near-seething aura. "Here." She handed me the hold and I slung it over my shoulder, bracing myself.

A hesitant pause, then I heard her speak _... Welcome back._ Her voice was surprisingly less harsh than I would've expected it to be. I heard her inhale sharply in surprise, but only a calm voice responded. _You've got poison in your system, but I'll have to check what it is before you can do anything. _I nodded in appreciation and taking the pristine spear, I turned it over in my hands. "Give me your sword, Lilienne."

"Um... Okay?" She hesitantly handed the sword over and watched as I bent down and started a cut in the dress. "What are you doing?"

"Shortening the dress length, what does it look like?" I snapped. "I'm not having a tea party here." I halved the skirt length and it now sat just above my knees. I held the sword back out before taking the length of cloth and roughly tying it around the wound on my waist. If what beholder said was true, then I was not going to wake up happy. At least I could move better than before; I avoided running lest I trip over my _clothes_.

_It's a rare poison. Not very common, but definitely treatable._ Her presence in my head felt strange again; I hadn't heard her voice in weeks! The advancing group of the original raiders were catching up. The Black Wing rogues were more or less gone, but they did take a good chunk of people out. The bishop had finished healing people and began to search the debris for the fallen. Yet, something didn't feel right.

A dust cloud briefly rose when a figure rose almost spectacularly through bits of blood, bone and debris. I raised my spear, but relaxed slightly when I saw it was just a teenager, coughing and spluttering. "Your name?" I noticed he had what appeared to be the remains of a spear; most of it had cracked and fallen.

"John." He rubbed his eyes before opening them. His suit was tattered and torn, his face smeared with a disgusting paste of dirt and blood. His black hair was matted with bits of rubble and what appeared to be a fragment of a bone.

"Sorry to break up the party down there, but there's people injured and a large mass of people are heading towards us this very minute." A voice called from above. I looked up and caught glimpse of a man dressed in lightweight armor, a Skylar hanging off his back horizontally. His face was obscured by a owl mask and was sitting idly on a branch.

"Owl-face is right." Clyde jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "We were running ahead to scout, not that it matters anymore. We're going, then?"

"Not yet. We- no, I still owe Geki." I turned around to look for him, but he had probably gone to find his sister. "Without him, this wouldn't be happening right now."

"Geki?" Lilienne's tone turned dark. "You mean the guy who literally kidnapped you? Without him, you wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place!"

"I think he was being blackmailed and I'm glad that it was him of all people, alright? Turns out I knew the guy's sister." I sighed and turned back to face the hall. "Long story short, those people might die if we just leave them to the mercy of my father's soldiers."

"But they're weak." Clyde shrugged. "It won't be fun beating them."

"Maybe they're weak for you, but not for those people back there who've just gone through a bunch of freaking undead soldiers, okay?" Lilienne rolled her eyes. "We'll help, but not for _his_ sake."

"Alright, whatever." He straightened up and lowered his pole arm. "Let's get it over and done with." He walked off, not waiting for our responses.

_He may be brash now, but I do recall he was slightly worried when Lilienne dragged herself back into camp._ Beholder's tone gave off an amused air. _I wonder how he must have felt._

I followed him, motioning Lilienne to follow.

"Uh... Do I come too?" John called out. I shrugged; we could easily take them on.

Lilienne called back, "Only if you're up for it!" I heard him run up to us, puffing slightly.

"Straight ahead, 135 meters and closing in." Owl-face had decided to join us, jumping nimbly from branch to branch.

I nodded and gripped my spear. _Are you sure you're ready for this?_ I didn't respond.

"Need help?" Edgar had slipped past again and Lilienne instinctively raised her spear. He raised his arms to show that he had no intentions to attack. "Calm down, elf. I'm here as an ally."

"Who's this?" Clyde perked up at the sight of the arcglaive.

"Geki." Lilienne gritted through her teeth. "If he hadn't happened, we wouldn't be here in the first place-"

"Not much we can do now, Lilienne." I cut her off with a sigh.

"Hundred meters. If you can't see them now, you're blind." Owl-face's voice was very mechanical, though a low chuckle made me think otherwise.

"Who're on the front lines?" I asked, facing Clyde.

"Foot soldiers. A mix of weapons."

"That's fine then. You know what to do, yes?"

"Eh." His eyes darkened, the sclera of his eyes turning pitch black. "Prove to me how strong you are!" He leapt forward, rushing into the oncoming mob.

There were shouts of protest before screams of pain; he had essentially slashed through the first two rows of soldiers, blood soaking into the ground.

"Or you know, don't wait." Lilienne sighed before launching herself into the battle, only visible as a blur.

John and Edgar rushed in as well and I eventually followed, calling out, "Slipstream!" I impaled through a soldier, slashed out, severing his spinal cord in the process before continuing on. The mages were next, but they would have been mad to even considering attacking us at such close combat. I punched out some mages and obliterated other's mana shields. They had evidently been counting on the foot soldiers for a human meat shield. I moved forward, ignoring the dull throb resounding throughout my arm and slashed down, slicing a mage's arm straight off. His reinforced robes did nothing to stop it, either as he yelled out in surprise.

I turned and caught glimpse of an apocalypse of bodies strewn across the floor, most unmoving, some groaning quietly. And in the middle of it all, Clyde. Punching everything in sight, like a bloody maniac.

I turned back, only to face Lilienne. She was in front of me, moving so fast that she became a blur whenever I wasn't paying attention. You could hear an eerie laugh as she seemed to float about, slicing down everyone in her path.

Edgar was almost on par with Lilienne. He seemed to work in a flurry of swipes, as opposed to leaping around wildly like Lilienne. People clustered around him were cut down with just a flick of his wrist.

Attacking next to him was John, attacking quite slowly compared to Edgar, even though he was attacking swiftly. Oddly enough, he was using a sword grip on his spear, using a gauntlet he must have picked up to defend against attacks as if he was using a shield.

People around me were being taken down with arrows. I slashed through another five of the opponents surrounding me before I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I turned to face a crazy-eyed brawler in front of me, towering over me and focusing mana into his right knuckle. Fuck.

He grinned like a madman, knocking my fairfrozen out of my hands and poising to strike. I deftly rolled out of the way to retrieve my spear, sweeping low and tripping him over. I silently commanded Beholder to rematerialise out of the weapon as I paused to catch my breath.

_And why should I listen to you?_ Her bitter tone said everything; she was still upset over being left behind at the camp. I grit my teeth, aware that the brute must be recovering already. I asked again, but got the cold shoulder. Instead, I decided to attack him up front, though the obvious difference in strength was evident. I rushed forward, focusing energy into the very edge of the spear, prepared to stab the man, but the brawler decided to attack at the same time.

The two skills collided and blasted us all outwards. I blocked most of the attack from countering with Buster, but the impact still sent us flying. I cursed under my breath and fished out an elixir pill from my emergency supplies stowed inside my spear sheath. I consumed it before looking around for the brawler.

* * *

I found his unmoving body a while away from myself, with a Skylar sticking out from his back. A pool of blood surrounded him and I caught sight of owl-face approaching me.

"This yours?" I retrieved the pole arm and held it out to him. He nodded stiffly and without adding anything else snatched it from me before turning away. "Wait! Why were you here in the first place? I didn't see you at the ball." He paused, facing me with a steely gaze.

"That's for me to know and you to find out, _traitor_." He spat out the last word with contempt.

"What the hell are you on about?" I snapped.

"I'm talking about you and your bastard of a father wrecking havoc on innocent civilians!" He shouted back, raising his weapon at me.

I instinctively blocked his attack. "What on earth are you talking about? I've been officially exiled for years! Why the fuck would I want to piss off people with the one person I hate with every fucking atom in my body?" I snapped, ducking a frenzied swipe and sidestepping to attack the person behind him. It was one of Thomas' necromancers, his hood, despite having the Black Wings symbol embroidered on its surface, also bore the golden medallion of his army. So he was working with the Black Mage's disciples as well! How despicable.

"Wha-" He turned in confusion just in time to notice the presence of the necromancer. We both stabbed him at the same time. "Oi, we're not done ye-"

"Whatever, we'll finish this later." I waved impatiently and pointed at the people fighting. "I've got people to defeat and if you interrupt me, I won't hesitate to attack you." I left without waiting for his reply and searched for people to help.

It was blood bath take two and I was enjoying it much more than I should. I found myself slashing at another opponent and wrenched him by his collar to use him as a meat shield just as a girl with a dagger ducked in, intending to stab me. I tossed the limp body away, taking the girl with him.

The feeling was absolutely refreshing. My wounds seemed obsolete to me and only left an urge to kill more. A strange urge, perhaps and the stench of spilled blood became so metallic it was ghastly, but otherwise it was probably one of the best euphoria rushes in the world.

The girl who had attacked me before had risen once more, having abandoned the dagger dislodged in the corpse and taken up a short sword. She tried attacking me again, but I easily deflected the blow and disarmed her, kicking her away instead. She rolled and got back up begrudgingly, picking up the sword and running at me yet again, shouting, "You can do more than this! I just saw what you did to him! Why are you sparing my life when you were so freaking merciless with him?! You didn't even think twice about killing him!" I glanced down and sliced the blade of the sword cleanly off the hilt. She stopped, panting and glaring at me with pristine green eyes.

"You've probably got a whole life in front of you. Why would you throw it away for this?" I jerked a thumb behind me. "Why you would even consider throwing your life away at your age for some stupid fight is beyond me." I turned my back on her. "I'm sparing your life. Be grateful." After some thought, I added, "But if you attack me again, I won't be as merciful."

_That was surprisingly insightful of you._ Beholder mused and a ghastly noise that I realised to be a laugh resounded through my skull. Whatever.

I ran along, still cautious of the death traps on my feet and slashed nearly everything in my way as I passed.

"Retreat!" An archer was shouting, clutching his bleeding bow hand. "The others'll get them! Just run!"

I watched them flee before running to Clyde, who was being restrained by Lilienne. I smacked him on the back of the head and he snapped out of his trance, blinking rapidly as his eyes reverted back to their original colour. We headed over to the others, who had met up and were either sitting or leaning against something. The only exception was the owl-faced man, who despite obviously harbouring suspicions against me, was still with us. He was sitting absentmindedly on a thick tree branch.

"Is that it?" John hesitantly asked after a few moments of silence.

"I don't think so." I turned back to the hall, panting. "I heard the archer say that '_the others'll_ get them'." I grimaced. "There was a second group, coming from the lobby wasn't there?"

I heard a sharp intake of breath and a quick call of, "Slipstream!" before Edgar disappeared from my line of view.

* * *

**Reviews are appreciated and still not mandatory. It'd suck if it were.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Death by Midnight**

**RAW**

**By Kyrastri/Plusle4eva/DivineScythe**

**A/N: Feeling that love, yo. 353 hits, 0 reviews at the time of publishing the final chapter. This was an experiment :), I'll stick to posting tidbits here from now on.  
**

**And with this, Death by Midnight as an arc ends. But 44th Moon has yet to continue to tell us its secrets.  
**

**-K  
**

* * *

**(Time difference is approximately three seconds.)**

"That idiot!" I sighed before turning to head back.

"Still going to go on?" John asked, surprised. "I saw the wound that that katara inflicted on you. It was also laced with poison, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. I don't really care right now." I snapped. "I caused this; so I'm going to go sort this mess out once and for all." I turned to face John. "I'm not going to force you to follow me. Hell, none of you have to. Just following me literally puts a price on your head."

"I'm sure we've been through this a few times, Kyra." Lilienne said, patting my shoulder. "I'll be sticking with you until we both accomplish what we dream of."

"I'm just sticking with ya since you seem to run into some pretty interesting folk." Clyde smirked.

"Your funeral." I shrugged, but smiled before calling, "Slipstream!" We covered the distance we had travelled within seconds to arrive at a battlefield.

It had been ruined even further by the recent battle, even though the battle had mainly died down.

"Get a bishop here!" Ryan was shouting not too far away. I rushed over, dreading the worst. I pushed past Ryan and my mind froze for a second.

It was Madeline, with a ghastly slash on her back. The rough bandage was doing little to put pressure onto the wound to prevent it from bleeding. John slid through with a small kit. "Move aside, Geki." He held up the bag. "I'll prepare her for a bishop, but there's not much I'll be able to do. Get one over as soon as possible." He nodded and left without a word.

"You know how to treat wounds?" Lilienne piped up, plopping herself on a table she set upright.

"I know some stuff, but nothing amazingly advanced." He untied the bandage and a low groan emitted from Madeline. "Oh, Goddess. She's got poison in her system as well. It doesn't look too bad, but do any of you have an antidote?"

"Here." Clyde tossed him a small vial of green liquid.

"Don't put the antidote onto the wound. It'll hurt like hell if you don't have a painkiller." I took the vial out of his hands and faced Madeline. "Maddy, how do you feel?"

"I have a massive open wound on my back. Go figure, Kayla." Maddy replied quietly.

"Riight." I uncorked the bottle and tilted her head back slightly. "Be sure to swallow it."

I poured the contents into her mouth and she swallowed without much difficulty.

"Stick with us, okay?" I said lightly, patting her head. "Who else am I going to rant to?"

"Well, who else is going to help you outwit your father?" She forced a smile.

"Exactly." I plopped down next to her.

"She's still losing blood. Where the hell is the bishop?" John was cleaning a needle.

"I may be on the brink of death but I still understand English, you twat." Madeline remarked irritably. "I'm not dead yet mate."

"Can't you use Alchemist?" I asked.

"If I could, I wouldn't be in this situation. The wound seemed to have hit something and now I can't feel my legs."

"So you severed a nerve?" I looked up at John, who nodded. "Wait; that means-"

"My exploring days are over now." She laughed. "If I survive this, that is." Her face paled further.

"Don't be daft."

"Bishop's here." Edgar had come back, panting. Lilienne moved aside so the Bishop could take a look at her.

"We've given her an antidote so far and we were about to start stitching her wound up." He lifted the needle.

"Don't bother." The Bishop's voice was absolute. "There's still poison in her system that's attacking her vitals. If you stitch that up now, we won't be able to get it out."

"But if we don't she'll lose too much- oh." John's face grew grim. "I see."

"The slimmest chance we'll have to take to save this girl is to remove the poison and hope that her body tries to recover." The bishop moved towards her back and held out his staff. "Dispel."

A glowing yellow aura surrounded her back and Madeline groaned. Small specks of black were suspended in the aura. The amount gradually increased until it was the size of a small ball.

Madeline was now a ghostly white. I turned to Clyde. "Give me an elixir." He fished into his pack and after a moment, fished out a syringe.

I injected it into her thigh. "Don't you die on me now." She didn't respond.

The amount of poison suspended in the spell was now the size of a large apple. John moved

in with a container and the Bishop stopped the spell and quickly replaced it with "Heal!"

A green blob sank itself into her skin and the wound was slowly being resealed. "This is all I can do now. It's up to her now." He motioned to Madeline. "Everyone clear out."

She managed to take hold of my arm when I stood to get up. "I'm tired." She muttered, her eyelids fluttering. "Keep me awake."

"I guess." I settled back down. "Do you remember when we used to travel around Orbis?"

"Mhm."

"We used to screw around so much. Remember when we almost died at the miner zombies? You totally saved the day back there. That was the biggest avenger star I had ever seen! And your shadow partner. It almost turned opaque back then, too!" I grinned.

"That was back when Nerio was around, yeah?"

"Yeah." My Fairfrozen hummed on my back. "Remember the time we had to pretend we were guys?" I shuddered at the memory.

"Your fake mustache wouldn't stick so you ended up being an extremely feminine boy." She laughed, albeit feebly. "That was fun. We ended up running, didn't we?"

"Yeah. We should do that again sometime."

"Mm... Doubt it." She sighed softly. "Could I talk to Edgar?"

As much as I wanted to deny it, her words were true. She wasn't going to survive, even if she had the best stamina around.

_Sorry to interrupt the tragic moment, but you're going to tragically die too if you don't get that bloody poison out of your system._ Geez, way to ruin the moment. I sighed and stood up. "Got anymore antidotes?" I asked Clyde. _Won't work._ "Actually... Never mind." I stepped past him. "Geki, your sister wants to talk to you."

He was sitting down, face hidden behind his hands. When I faced him, he stood up and moved past me, murmuring, "Thanks for what you did."

"She's my friend, too." I sighed and looked around for John, who was idly hanging around a table, playing with coins. "Hey."

He looked up. "Oh, hey. I was going to look for you."

"I can see that." He was sitting backwards on a chair, looking absolutely bored. "I wanted to ask whether you'd like to follow us."

* * *

"Us?" He looked up. "Who else is there?"

"It's Lilienne, Clyde and myself at the moment, but we could always use an extra person hanging around." I grinned. "Besides, you seem like you're friendly enough. We can always help train you if you think you can handle it."

"Wait, Edgar's not a part of it?" He asked, confused.

"Nope. I'm sure he has his own matters to attend to, anyway." I shrugged.

"Oh. I thought you two were... Y'know..." He mashed the two coins together awkwardly.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Together."

"Whatever gave you that impression?" I scoffed. "Romance is most certainly the last thing I have on my agenda."

"Okay." He shrugged and continued rolling the coins around. "Whatever gears your spear."

"Anyway, are you up for it?" I crossed my arms. "I have some other stuff to do for now." Like clearing our name. No biggie.

"Yeah, sure." He nodded. "You might want to get that wound looked at, by the way. It'll get infected if you keep on that makeshift bandage."

"Tell me something I don't already know." I sighed. I found myself walking around idly, absorbing the grim atmosphere. A large amount of the people attending the dance had lived, though there were still numerous casualties. When I began to pay attention again, I realised that I had walked through the debris and found my way to the bishop that had helped Madeline before. "Thanks for your work." I gave a stiff bow, wincing slightly as the last fleeting effects of adrenaline wore off. "We do appreciate your help, even though it was too late."

"It's fine." He waved his hand dismissively, looking around at the civilians huddled together. "I'm sorry for your loss." I simply nodded in acknowledgement, hoping he would not go any further. Fortunately, he didn't and only then did I finally began to feel the slight throb of the wound.

"Sorry if it's too much to ask, but could you please try to treat one of my wounds? I was told that a normal antidote wouldn't work on it." I pointed at my waist.

"I think no-one else needs treatment, so it'll be fine." I unwrapped the scrap of cloth, soaked with blood. The wound seemed a lot worse than I remembered it. Odd.

He murmured, "Dispel!" and the sensation that followed was nothing short of curious. The feeling resembled something being sucked out, but it felt like something was being lodged into the wound at the same time. A large mass of poison was already gathering in the small amount of time that the spell had been activated. How the hell did I _not_ feel that? I'm pretty sure most poisons hurt people as opposed to the dull throbs I felt. "There's some fragments that I can't coerce out." He commented as he removed the spell, the poison falling and splashing on a marble chunk near where I was sitting and literally _dissolving_ it.

"It'll be fine." I nodded absent-mindedly as I stared at the sizable hole the poison had left. "You don't have to heal the wound; as long as the poison's out of my system I'll be fine."

"Ah, okay." He looked in his pack before retrieving a roll of bandage, which he tossed at me. "Use that to cover the wound."

"Gotcha." I turned and sight of Edgar walking out through the hole in the wall. On a whim, I followed him (I'm not a stalker) and passed Lilienne and Clyde, who were still with Madeline, despite not even knowing her. Outside, it was surprisingly dark. The moon had hidden itself behind a cloud and the breeze had blown away the worst of the stench that lingered around.

"What're you doing out here?" His voice came from beside me flatly and I found him perched on a rock.

"Fresh air." I clutched the roll of bandage for no apparent reason. "Shouldn't you be with Madeline?"

"She's dead." His tone gave nothing away, again. I heard his boots hit the ground; he had probably hopped off.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I didn't know what to say. He was even more emotionless than before.

"She was my sister!" He murmured, clenching a fist. "She was the only family I had left."

"Denial." I said quietly. "You still haven't registered her death enough yet to grieve. Face it and move on." I crossed my arms, partially due to the cold.

"She's never coming back." He repeated this a few more times before it finally seemed to hit him. "I didn't do anything to help."

"There was nothing you could do."

"Yes there was!" He shouted, punching the rock beside him. Silence passed, save for his loud breathing. He had gone quiet, but I didn't realise he was crying until I approached him, almost fuming. Whoops.

"Goddess be damned, get a hold of yourself you emotionless twit!" I shook his shoulders rather vigorously. "Don't be so difficult, geez!" I let go, sighing. After a few moments, I calmed my voice down (or at least tried to) to say, "Look. No-one here wanted Madeline to die. She knew the risks of fighting in this and she did anyway. Besides, you know how she was. Once she made her decision, you'd have to chuck Scania in another universe before she'll change her mind. You're not going to make her death any less real by sitting here and moping about it."

His breathing evened out enough for him to reply, "I'm pretty sure it's okay to grieve."

"You've too much grief to grieve without emitting a depressing aura." I rolled my eyes. "Don't think of it like mourning for a loss. She lived a life much more adventurous life than most people double her age." I paused. Wording this was difficult. "Think if it like... Celebrating her life, I guess."

He didn't say anything, instead staring straight up to the few stars scattered around.

Back to square one. "Fine, I give up. You're obligated to grieve. But are you going to hold some sort of memorial for her?"

"I don't know if I should."

"You're her brother, aren't you? If you're allowed to grieve, so is everyone else that cared for her."

"Fine, then. Where would I hold this memorial, if I did?"

"Did my father recover the place where we first erm… Met? Fought?" I was lost as to how to describe the encounter. _Where you got totally battered up by the man in front of you?_ Beholder interrupted with an amused tone. I mentally told her to shut up.

"I think so. Your father couldn't have not noticed it after that Ground Smash."

"Oh... Right." I muttered sheepishly. "Anyway, I was thinking that we could hold it there if you don't have any other ideas. She did like the meadow and it'd be kinda like a last act of defiance, to _him,_ I mean. You don't have to, of course; it's your choic-"

"Nah, I like it." He cut me off with a hug. "Thanks."

The feeling was warm, but for sanity's sake, I patted him on the back and said, "You can let go now."

"Mm." He didn't let go. Far out. The best time to go spacing out, huh?

We stood there awkwardly for a while until my words had finally sunk into that thick skull of his. He abruptly let go and instead took my hand, almost dragging me along before pushing me into a bush. Oh you know, because that's the first thing you do after you force a hug on someone.

"Stay hidden." He walked back in without another spoken word, but I pushed myself into a small gap between the plants and fished around for the roll of bandage that I had so _carelessly_ dropped when I was involuntarily pushed into a bush.

I removed the top half of the dress to chuck on the bandage before hastily replacing the dress back on. Who knew what kinds of creeps lurked about in Henesys near midnight.

I yawned. Why the hell did Edgar tell me to keep me here? Where were Lilienne and Clyde? And John, for that matter. On top of that, what were they doing?

I know this isn't a fairytale, but even I couldn't help but wonder if there was a happy ending for me. For everyone. The clock struck twelve; deep, heavy rings resonating throughout the small building near the edge of town as I fell into an equally deep, dreamless sleep.

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**Reviews are appreciated, not mandatory.  
**


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